KENNEDY, John Fitzgerald - Biographical Information Senate Years of Service: 1953-1960 Party: Democrat Courtesy U.S. Senate Historical Office KENNEDY, John Fitzgerald, (brother of Edward M. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, grandson of John Francis Fitzgerald, and uncle of Joseph Patrick Kennedy II and Patrick J.

Kennedy), a Representative and a Senator from Massachusetts and 35th President of the United States; born in Brookline, Norfolk County, Mass., May 29, 1917; attended the public and private schools of Brookline, Mass., Choate School, Wallingford, Conn., the London School of Economics at London, England, and Princeton University; graduated from Harvard University in 1940; attended Stanford University School of Business; during the Second World War served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy 1941-1945; PT boat commander in the South Pacific; author and newspaper correspondent; elected as a Democrat to the Eightieth, Eighty-first, and Eighty-second Congresses (January 3, 1947-January 3, 1953); did not seek renomination in 1952; elected to the United States Senate in 1952; reelected in 1958 and served from January 3, 1953 to December 22, 1960, when he resigned to become President of the United States; chairman, Special Committee on the Senate Reception Room (Eighty

-fourth and Eighty-fifth Congresses); unsuccessfully sought the Democratic vice presidential nomination in 1956; elected thirty-fifth President of the United States in 1960, and was inaugurated on January 20, 1961; died in Dallas, Tex., November 22, 1963, from the effects of an assassins bullet; remains returned to Washington, D.C.; lay in state in the Rotunda of the U.S.

Capitol, November 24-25, 1963; interment in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.; posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on December 6, 1993. Bibliography American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Burns, James M. John Kennedy: A Political Profile. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1961; Sorenson, Theodore. Kennedy. 1965. Reprint. New York: Perennial Library, 1988; Dallek, Robert. An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963. Boston: Little Brown Co., 2003. KENNEDY, John Fitzgerald | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives Adler, Bill, ed. The Kennedy Wit. New York: Citadel Press, 1964. ___, ed. More Kennedy Wit. New York: Bantam Press, 1965. Brogan, Hugh. Kennedy. New York: Longman, 1996. Burner, David, and Thomas R. West.

The Torch Is Passed: The Kennedy Brothers and American Liberalism. New York: Atheneum, 1984. Burns, James MacGregor. John Kennedy: A Political Profile. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1961. Crown, James Tracy. The Kennedy Literature: A Bibliographical Essay on John F. Kennedy. New York: New York University Press, 1968. Dallek, Robert. An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963. Boston: Little Brown Co., 2003. Dollen, Charles. John F. Kennedy, American. Boston: St. Paul Editions, 1965. Giglio, James N., comp. John F. Kennedy: A Bibliogaphy. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995. Goldman, Alex J., ed. The Quotable Kennedy. New York: Citadel Press, 1965. Gray, Charles H.

"A Scale Analysis of the Voting Records of Senators Kennedy, Johnson and Goldwater, 1957-1960." American Political Science Review 59 (September 1965): 615-21. Kennedy, John F. "Congressional Lobbies: A Chronic Problem Re-examined." Georgetown Law Journal 45 (Summer 1957): 535-67. ___. A Nation of Immigrants. 1959. Rev. and enlarged ed., with introduction by Robert F. Kennedy and new preface by John P. Roche. New York: Harper & Row, 1986. ___. Prelude to Leadership: The European Diary of John F. Kennedy, Summer 1945. Washington: Regnery Publishing, 1995. ___. Profiles in Courage. 1956. Memorial ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1964. ___. Why England Slept. 1940. Reprint. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981. ___, ed. As We Remember Joe.

Cambridge, MA: Privately published, 1945. Lemke, William Edgar. "The Political Thought of John F. Kennedy: To the Inaugural Address." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Maine, 1973. Lincoln, Evelyn. My Twelve Years with John F. Kennedy. New York: D. McKay Co., 1965. Lowe, Jacques. Portrait: The Emergence of John F. Kennedy. New York: McGraw Hill, 1961. Matthews, Christopher. Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry that Shaped Postwar America. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. Nevins, Allan, ed. The Strategy of Peace. New York: Harper & Row, 1960. Newcomb, Joan I., comp. John F. Kennedy: An Annotated Bibliography. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1977. Nurse, Ronald Joseph. "America Must Not Sleep: The Development of John F. Kennedy's Foreign Policy Attitudes, 1947-1960." Ph.D.

dissertation, Michigan State University, 1971. O'Donnell, Kenneth P., and David F. Powers. "Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye": Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1972. O'Hara, William T., ed. John F. Kennedy on Education. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 1966. Parmet, Herbert S. Jack: The Struggles of John F. Kennedy. New York: Dial Press, 1980. ___. JFK: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy. New York: Dial Press, 1983. Rorabaugh, W.J. Kennedy and the Promise of the Sixties. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Ryan, Dorothy, and Louis J. Ryan, comps. The Kennedy Family of Massachusetts: A Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981. Sable, Martin H. A Bio-Bibliography of the Kennedy Family. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1969.

Sanghvi, Ramesh. John F. Kennedy: A Political Biography. Bombay: Perennial Press, 1961. Shaw, John. JFK in the Senate: Pathway to the Presidency. New York City: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Sorensen, Theodore C. Kennedy. 1965. Reprint, with new introduction. New York: Perennial Library, 1988. ___. The Kennedy Legacy. 1969. Special ed. New York: Macmillan Co., 1993. ___, comp. "Let the Word Go Forth": The Speeches, Statements, and Writings of John F. Kennedy. New York: Dell Publishing, 1991. Stone, Ralph A., ed. John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963: Chronology--Documents--Bibliographical Aids. Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana Publications, 1971. U.S. Congress.

Memorial Addresses in the Congress of the United States and Tributes in Eulogy of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Late a President of the United States. 88th Cong., 2d sess., 1964. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1964. Whalen, Thomas J. Kennedy Versus Lodge: The 1952 Massachusetts Senate Race. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2000. White, Theodore H. The Making of the President, 1960. 1961. Reprint. New York: Atheneum, 1988. Wicker, Tom. JFK and LBJ: The Influence of Personality Upon Politics. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1968. Wszelaki, Jan H., ed. John F. Kennedy and Poland: Selection of Documents, 1948-1963. New York: Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America, 1964. Ted Kennedy Jr. announces run for Connecticut state senate seat Ted Kennedy Jr.

announces run for Connecticut state senate seat Richard Weizel Share View photos Gina Macdonald-Page (L) holds up a sign for Ted Kennedy Jr. (C), son of the late Democratic Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy, after he declared his candidacy for a seat in the Connecticut Senate, in Branford, Connecticut April 8, 2014. REUTERS/Michelle McLoughlin More By Richard Weizel BRANFORD, Connecticut (Reuters) - Ted Kennedy Jr., son of the late Democratic senator from Massachusetts, Edward Kennedy, announced on Tuesday that he would run for a seat in the Connecticut state senate, his first run for political office. Kennedy, also the nephew of assassinated President John F. Kennedy, declared his candidacy at the Blackstone Library in Branford, Connecticut, the town near New Haven where he has lived with his family for more than two decades. "We know that politics is a family affair," Kennedy, 52, said to loud applause from an enthusiastic crowd of some 300 people, mostly Democrats.

"But this is going to be a local, grassroots campaign focusing on the issues facing this district and the state of Connecticut." He was joined on the podium by his wife, Kiki, daughter Kiley, 19, and son, Edward Moore Kennedy III, 16. Kennedy, who lost his right leg to cancer as a child, is co-founder and president of the Marwood Group, a financial services and consulting firm focused on healthcare that is headquartered in New York City. In January, he joined the Epstein Becker Green law firm, in its healthcare and life sciences practice. Kennedy said that as a lawmaker he would draw on his own experience as a childhood cancer survivor to fight for the rights of the disabled. "I was 12 years old when my father walked into my hospital room and told me the bone cancer I was diagnosed with had spread and I would have to have my leg amputated," he said. "I was devastated. I thought my life was over." But instead, after numerous surgeries and physical therapy, Kennedy said he drew inspiration from a boy he befriended who had also lost a leg - but did not have prosthesis as he did.

"I asked him why he chose not to have an artificial leg, and he said he would love to have one - but his family couldn't afford it," Kennedy said Tuesday. "I was angry, upset and determined from that day to fight for the rights of the disabled so that no one in that situation would be denied what they needed because of not having money. I also realized I was fortunate to be part of the (Kennedy) family." The district Kennedy is seeking to represent includes the towns of Branford, Durham, Guilford, Killingworth, Madison and North Branford. Kennedy's candidacy follows that of his nephew, Joe Kennedy III, who won a congressional seat in 2012. His brother, Patrick, represented Rhode Island in the U.S. Congress for 16 years until 2010. No Republican has yet announced a run for the Connecticut seat. (Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Eric Walsh) Reblog John F. Kennedy | whitehouse.gov Air Force One John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States (1961-1963), the youngest man elected to the office.

On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, becoming also the youngest President to die. On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullets as his motorcade wound through Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was the youngest man elected President; he was the youngest to die. Of Irish descent, he was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. Graduating from Harvard in 1940, he entered the Navy. In 1943, when his PT boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, Kennedy, despite grave injuries, led the survivors through perilous waters to safety. Back from the war, he became a Democratic Congressman from the Boston area, advancing in 1953 to the Senate. He married Jacqueline Bouvier on September 12, 1953. In 1955, while recuperating from a back operation, he wrote Profiles in Courage, which won the Pulitzer Prize in history.

In 1956 Kennedy almost gained the Democratic nomination for Vice President, and four years later was a first-ballot nominee for President. Millions watched his television debates with the Republican candidate, Richard M. Nixon. Winning by a narrow margin in the popular vote, Kennedy became the first Roman Catholic President. His Inaugural Address offered the memorable injunction: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." As President, he set out to redeem his campaign pledge to get America moving again. His economic programs launched the country on its longest sustained expansion since World War II; before his death, he laid plans for a massive assault on persisting pockets of privation and poverty. Responding to ever more urgent demands, he took vigorous action in the cause of equal rights, calling for new civil rights legislation. His vision of America extended to the quality of the national culture and the central role of the arts in a vital society. He wished America to resume its old mission as the first nation dedicated to the revolution of human rights. With the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps, he brought American idealism to the aid of developing nations. But the hard reality of the Communist challenge remained.

Shortly after his inauguration, Kennedy permitted a band of Cuban exiles, already armed and trained, to invade their homeland. The attempt to overthrow the regime of Fidel Castro was a failure. Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union renewed its campaign against West Berlin. Kennedy replied by reinforcing the Berlin garrison and increasing the Nation's military strength, including new efforts in outer space. Confronted by this reaction, Moscow, after the erection of the Berlin Wall, relaxed its pressure in central Europe. Instead, the Russians now sought to install nuclear missiles in Cuba. When this was discovered by air reconnaissance in October 1962, Kennedy imposed a quarantine on all offensive weapons bound for Cuba. While the world trembled on the brink of nuclear war, the Russians backed down and agreed to take the missiles away. The American response to the Cuban crisis evidently persuaded Moscow of the futility of nuclear blackmail. Kennedy now contended that both sides had a vital interest in stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and slowing the arms race--a contention which led to the test ban treaty of 1963.

The months after the Cuban crisis showed significant progress toward his goal of "a world of law and free choice, banishing the world of war and coercion." His administration thus saw the beginning of new hope for both the equal rights of Americans and the peace of the world. The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2006 by the White House Historical Association. For more information about President Kennedy, please visit Promote Your Page Too Senator KENNEDY. Governor Hollings, Senator Johnston, ladies, and gentlemen, I am grateful for the generous introduction of an old friend of my brother's and mine of many years, your distinguished and vigorous Governor, Fritz Hollings. I am grateful to him for his invitation to be here today. [Applause.] And I appreciate the presence on this platform of my friend and colleague in the U.S. Senate, Senator Olin Johnston, with whom I served for many years. [Applause.] I am glad to be in a State which cast its vote for me at the Democratic Convention in 1956 for Vice President.

I am glad to be in a city, the home of the University of South Carolina, which honored me in 1957, and I am glad to be the first Democratic candidate in the history of South Carolina to come to this State and ask your help. [Applause.] What did the Republicans ever do for South Carolina? [Response from the audience.] Actually, I am here to pay tribute to a great South Carolinian who speaks unknown to every American, the New York Yankee's Bobby Richardson. [Laughter.] Apparently he is one Yankee who has your blessing and I am here to gain them, too. Actually, baseball and politics are different. The other day with the Boston Red Sox, Ted Williams retired. They said he was too old at 42. Perhaps experience does not count. [Laughter.] I want to express my regrets for being late, and more than I can say. They told me 5 days ago a storm was coming up here, so we waited. [Laughter.] But there is a storm coming up here next November 8 that is going to sweep Mr. Nixon all the way back to California.

[Applause.] Actually I was not playing golf in Georgia; I was at Warm Springs. [Laughter and applause.] I was at Warm Springs visiting the home of a great Democratic President, Franklin Roosevelt. [Applause.] For 8 years in the U.S. Senate I have occupied a seat which was once held in the Senate, from Massachusetts, by a distinguished Senator, Senator Daniel Webster. He served in the time before 1850, when the Senate was at its height, and included within its ranks Lewis Cass, Clay, Douglas, Benton, and all the rest. But none of these were considered by Daniel Webster to match the talents and the character of the Senator from South Carolina, John C. Calhoun. [Applause.] They were both born in the same year; Calhoun was a native of Abingdon, S.C. They both went to college in New England, one to Yale and the other to Dartmouth. They had both entered Congress as young men, and they stayed in Congress for 40 years, until they died in 1850, John Calhoun, and in 1852 Senator Daniel Webster.

They worked together on foreign relations, the development of the United States, fiscal improvements. Each served in the House as well as in the Senate. Each was Secretary of State. And yet through most of their lives, they also differed on great questions. But to his dying day, Senator Daniel Webster said of John C. Calhoun, "He was much the ablest man I ever knew. He could have demolished Newton, Calvin, or Locke as a logician." He admired above all his powerful mind and his courage. Sitting as I do in the U.S. Senate, succeeding Senator Webster in succession, I have also admired John C. Calhoun. When I was selected as chairman of a commitee to pick five outstanding Senators in the history of this country, John C. Calhoun's name led all the rest, and his painting is now in the Senate reception room. [Applause.] And when I wrote a book about courageous Senators, I mentioned John C. Calhoun. I am not here in South Carolina to make glittering promises or glowing predictions, but to express the hope that in 1960, South Carolina and the Nation will be guided by the spirit of Calhoun and his courage.

"I never know what South Carolina thinks of a measure," he once said. "I act to the best of my judgment and according to my conscience. If she approves, well and good. If she does not, and wishes anyone to take my place, I am ready to vacate. We are even." He demonstrated this in 1816 when he voted to raise the pay of Congressman from $6 a day to the munificent sum of $1,500 a year. Congressman after Congressman was defeated. And yet John C. Calhoun, speaking in the House, spoke words that I invoke today. "This House is at liberty to decide on this question according to the dictates of its best judgment. Are we bound in all cases to do what is popular? Have the people of this country snatched the power of deliberation from this body? If we act in Opposition to conscience and reason, are political errors, once prevalent, never to be corrected?" That is the spirit of the Democratic Party, that is the spirit of Thomas Jefferson and Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. Are we bound in all cases to do what is popular?

In 1960, the people of the United States have a very clear choice to make between Mr. Nixon and myself. We see America in different terms, and we see the future in entirely different terms. He runs on a slogan of "You have never had it so good." I run on the slogan, "This is a great country that must be greater." [Applause.] I think we can do better. [Applause.] We must say as John Calhoun said, that we must appeal to conscience and reason, and not merely to what is popular. Mr. Nixon has taken a different course, for he does not belong as I do to the party of Calhoun. He belongs to the party of Herbert Hoover, who promised a chicken for every pot. He belongs to the party that kept cool with Coolidge, that returned to normalcy with Harding, that tried to repeal social security with Landon, that ran Dewey. We never did that. [Laughter.] Mr. Nixon is true to the traditions of his party. Popularity, not logic, is his standard. He promises a vast new program of aid to education.

He promises in the last 2 weeks a great and vast housing program and he promises to outdo the Democrats in agriculture, public works, foreign aid, defense, and all the rest. But then he journeys South and he talks to you and he comes out against the Federal bureaucracy, he comes out against the spending, he comes out against the Democratic Party because we support these programs. I believe the American people and the people of South Carolina and the South and the North should be dealt with more frankly. I believe that the American people are wise enough to know that these promises are either election-year oratory, or they will require funds and effort by the Federal Government. I am just as opposed as Mr. Nixon to unbalanced budgets and to Federal deficits. The largest deficit in the history of this country was in 1958, $12 billion. I do not believe that Washington should be the center of all action. We do not know as much about your problems as you do. There is no magic in tax money that comes to Washington and then is spent by us. But I must say that I believe not in big government for big government's sake, but I believe in effective government, and I believe there is a responsibility for the National Government.

The farmers in this State who grow cotton, they cannot protect themselves without a national policy. The textile workers of this State who are working in some cases 2, 3, or 4 days, they cannot protect themselves against the imports that may destroy them, without national action. We cannot develop the Tennessee Valley without the people working together. There is a place for action on every level, and those who say that they are against action, I believe, are against the United States moving ahead in the 1960's. [Applause.] And instead of talking out of both sides of our mouth, I think every candidate should take his stand with Lyndon Johnson of Texas, who said he talks not as a Texan, not as a southerner, not as a white man, but as an American in a united country, and I speak in that spirit today. [Applause.] The test of popularity, rather than Calhoun's test of conscience, has also been applied by my opponent in the sensitive area of civil rights. He makes a great show of discussing this subject when he comes south, but it is hardly the same speech he delivered in New York City last week. Up north he talks about legislation.

Down here he emphasizes that laws alone are not enough. Up there he stresses how quickly he will act in all these areas. Down here he says, "I know this is a difficult problem." Up there he criticizes the Democratic Party for having nominated a southerner on the ticket. Down here he omits the civil rights plank in his own platform. I don't think Mr. Nixon is fooling anyone, north or south. I think it is clear [applause] that if we are to have progress in this area, and we must have progress to be true to our ideals and responsibilities, then Presidential leadership is necessary so that every American can enjoy his full constitutional rights. Some of you may disagree with that view, but at least I have not changed that view in an election year, or according to where I am standing. [Applause.] I don't send Senator Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania to campaign for me in the North and Senator Barry Goldwater to come South, and say we don't need any of this.

[Applause.] All these are important issues, but I must say what is most important is that the United States recognize in the 1960's that these are difficult and dangerous times, that it is going to require the best of all of us, whether we live in Massachusetts or whether we live in South Carolina. I do not go to the American people - and it is upon your shoulders that the great decision will rest - promising that if I am elected life will be easy. I think to be a citizen of the United States in the 1960's is going to be a burdensome and hazardous occupation. But I have the greatest confidence in this country. I have the greatest confidence in our system of government. I know we can meet our responsibilities. And I do not agree with those who say that we downgrade the United States when we downgrade Republican leadership.

[Applause.] I am not satisfied, in our most dangerous years, to have our steel mills working 50 percent, to have 35 percent of our brightest boys and girls never get to college, to be turning out half as many doctors and nurses as we now need, to find the largest agricultural surplus, $9 billion, stored away rotting while more than 5 million Americans go to bed every night on a substandard diet of 5 cents a day of surplus foods. I am not satisfied to see the United States stand still, to see farmers' income driven down and given only for relief the same promises of Mr. Benson, applied with new lighting and new makeup. [Applause.] These are dangerous days, but it is upon us that the hope of freedom lies; it is upon the United States, it is upon our vitality and our vigor and our willingness to embrace the future. I come as the candidate of the oldest political party on earth, in direct succession from Thomas Jefferson, in direct succession and standing where Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman stood in this century, and saying that we also in our day have a rendezvous with destiny.

Our generation of Americans must meet its responsibility, not only to ourselves, but to all those who wish to trod on freedom's road. I want Mr. Khrushchev to know that a new generation of Americans has taken over in this country, men who fought in Italy and the South Pacific in order to maintain this country's freedom, men who have the greatest confidence in our country, men who want to see it move again, men who want to set it going again. And I come to South Carolina and ask your help in this campaign. I ask you to join us in building a stronger America, an America which will serve as an example to a watching world as we sit on a most conspicuous stage. We will give leadership if we are successful, and I can promise you this country will start to move again. Thank you. [Applause.] Citation: John F. Kennedy: "Speech of Senator John F. Kennedy, State House, Columbia, SC," October 10, 1960. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. Life of John F. Kennedy - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum Life of John F.

Kennedy Life of John F. Kennedy Life of John F. Kennedy Growing Up in the Kennedy Family Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, who was a very disciplined and organized woman, made the following entry on a notecard, when her second child was born: John Fitzgerald Kennedy Born Brookline, Mass. (83 Beals Street) May 29, 1917 In all, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy would have nine children, four boys and five girls. She kept notecards for each of them in a small wooden file box and made a point of writing down everything from a doctor’s visit to the shoe size they had at a particular age. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was named in honor of Rose’s father, John Francis Fitzgerald, the Boston Mayor popularly known as Honey Fitz. Before long, family and friends called this small blue-eyed baby, Jack. Jack was not a very healthy baby, and Rose recorded on his notecard the childhood diseases from which he suffered, such as: "whooping cough, measles, chicken pox." On February 20, 1920 when Jack was not yet three years old, he became sick with scarlet fever, a highly contagious and then potentially life-threatening disease.

His father, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, was terrified that little Jack would die. Mr. Kennedy went to the hospital every day to be by his son’s side, and about a month later Jack took a turn for the better and recovered. But Jack was never very healthy, and because he was always suffering from one ailment or another his family used to joke about the great risk a mosquito took in biting him – with some of his blood the mosquito was almost sure to die! When Jack was three, the Kennedys moved to a new home a few blocks away from their old house in Brookline, a neighborhood just outside of Boston. It was a lovely house with twelve rooms, turreted windows, and a big porch. Full of energy and ambition, Jack’s father worked very hard at becoming a successful businessman. When he was a student at Harvard College and having a difficult time fitting in as an Irish Catholic, he swore to himself he would make a million dollars by the age of 35. There was a lot of prejudice against Irish Catholics in Boston at that time, but Joseph Kennedy was determined to succeed. Jack’s great-grandparents had come from Ireland and managed to provide for their families, despite many hardships.

Jack’s grandfathers did even better for themselves, both becoming prominent Boston politicians. Jack, because of all his family had done, could enjoy a very comfortable life. The Kennedys had everything they needed and more. By the time Jack was eight there were seven children altogether. Jack had an older brother, Joe; four sisters, Rosemary, Kathleen, Eunice, and Patricia; and a younger brother, Robert. Jean and Teddy hadn’t been born yet. Nannies and housekeepers helped Rose run the household. At the end of the school year, the Kennedy children would go to their summer home in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod where they enjoyed swimming, sailing, and playing touch football. The Kennedy children played hard, and they enjoyed competing with one another. Joseph Sr. encouraged this competition, especially among the boys. He was a father with very high expectations and wanted the boys to win at sports and everything they tried. As he often said, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." But sometimes these competitions went too far. One time when Joe suggested that he and Jack race on their bicycles, they collided head-on. Joe emerged unscathed while Jack had to have twenty-eight stitches.

Because Joe was two years older and stronger than Jack, whenever they fought, Jack would usually get the worst of it. Jack was the only sibling who posed any real threat to Joe’s dominant position as the oldest child. Jack was very popular and had many friends at Choate, a boarding school for adolescent boys in Connecticut. He played tennis, basketball, football, and golf and also enjoyed reading. His friend Lem Billings remembers how unusual it was that Jack had a daily subscription to the New York Times. Jack had a "clever, individualist mind," his Head Master once noted, though he was not the best student. He did not always work as hard as he could, except in history and English, which were his favorite subjects. "Now Jack," his father wrote in a letter one day, "I don’t want to give the impression that I am a nagger, for goodness knows I think that is the worse thing any parent can be, and I also feel that you know if I didn’t really feel you had the goods I would be most charitable in my attitude toward your failings.

After long experience in sizing up people I definitely know you have the goods and you can go a long way…It is very difficult to make up fundamentals that you have neglected when you were very young, and that is why I am urging you to do the best you can. I am not expecting too much, and I will not be disappointed if you don’t turn out to be a real genius, but I think you can be a really worthwhile citizen with good judgment and understanding." Jack graduated from Choate and entered Harvard in 1936, where Joe was already a student. Like his brother Joe, Jack played football. He was not as good an athlete as Joe but he had a lot of determination and perseverance. Unfortunately, one day while playing he ruptured a disk in his spine. Jack never really recovered from this accident and his back continued to bother him for the rest of his life. The two eldest boys were attractive, agreeable, and intelligent young men and Mr. Kennedy had high hopes for them both. However, it was Joe who had announced to everyone when he was a young boy that he would be the first Catholic to become President. No one doubted him for a moment. Jack, on the other hand, seemed somewhat less ambitious.

He was active in student groups and sports and he worked hard in his history and government classes, though his grades remained only average. Late in 1937, Mr. Kennedy was appointed United States Ambassador to England and moved there with his whole family, with the exception of Joe and Jack who were at Harvard. Because of his father’s job, Jack became very interested in European politics and world affairs. After a summer visit to England and other countries in Europe, Jack returned to Harvard more eager to learn about history and government and to keep up with current events. Joe and Jack frequently received letters from their father in England, who informed them of the latest news regarding the conflicts and tensions that everyone feared would soon blow up into a full-scale war. Adolph Hitler ruled Germany and Benito Mussolini ruled Italy. They both had strong armies and wanted to take land from other countries. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and World War II began. By this time, Jack was a senior at Harvard and decided to write his thesis on why Great Britain was unprepared for war with Germany. It was later published as a book called Why England Slept. In June 1940, Jack graduated from Harvard.

His father sent him a cablegram from London: "TWO THINGS I ALWAYS KNEW ABOUT YOU ONE THAT YOU ARE SMART TWO THAT YOU ARE A SWELL GUY LOVE DAD." World War II and a Future in Politics Soon after graduating, both Joe and Jack joined the Navy. Joe was a flyer and sent to Europe, while Jack was made Lieutenant (Lt.) and assigned to the South Pacific as commander of a patrol torpedo boat, the PT-109. Lt. Kennedy had a crew of twelve men whose mission was to stop Japanese ships from delivering supplies to their soldiers. On the night of August 2, 1943, Lt. Kennedy’s crew patrolled the waters looking for enemy ships to sink. A Japanese destroyer suddenly became visible. But it was traveling at full speed and headed straight at them. Holding the wheel, Lt. Kennedy tried to swerve out of the way, but to no avail. The much larger Japanese warship rammed the PT-109, splitting it in half and killing two of Lt. Kennedy’s men. The others managed to jump off as their boat went up in flames. Lt.

Kennedy was slammed hard against the cockpit, once again injuring his weak back. Patrick McMahon, one of his crew members, had horrible burns on his face and hands and was ready to give up. In the darkness, Lt. Kennedy managed to find McMahon and haul him back to where the other survivors were clinging to a piece of the boat that was still afloat. At sunrise, Lt. Kennedy led his men toward a small island several miles away. Despite his own injuries, Lt. Kennedy was able to tow Patrick McMahon ashore, a strap from McMahon’s life jacket clenched between his teeth. Six days later two native islanders found them and went for help, delivering a message Jack had carved into a piece of coconut shell. The next day, the PT-109 crew was rescued. Jack’s brother Joe was not so lucky. He died a year later when his plane blew up during a dangerous mission in Europe. When he returned home, Jack was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his leadership and courage. With the war finally coming to an end, it was time to choose the kind of work he wanted to do. Jack had considered becoming a teacher or a writer, but with Joe’s tragic death suddenly everything changed.

After serious discussions with Jack about his future, Joseph Kennedy convinced him that he should run for Congress in Massachusetts' eleventh congressional district, where he won in 1946. This was the beginning of Jack’s political career. As the years went on, John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, served three terms (six years) in the House of Representatives, and in 1952 he was elected to the US Senate. Soon after being elected senator, John F. Kennedy, at 36 years of age, married 24 year-old Jacqueline Bouvier, a writer with the Washington Times-Herald. Unfortunately, early on in their marriage, Senator Kennedy’s back started to hurt again and he had two serious operations. While recovering from surgery, he wrote a book about several US Senators who had risked their careers to fight for the things in which they believed. The book, called Profiles in Courage, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957. That same year, the Kennedys’ first child, Caroline, was born. John F. Kennedy was becoming a popular politician. In 1956 he was almost picked to run for vice president.

Kennedy nonetheless decided that he would run for president in the next election. He began working very long hours and traveling all around the United States on weekends. On July 13, 1960 the Democratic party nominated him as its candidate for president. Kennedy asked Lyndon B. Johnson, a senator from Texas, to run with him as vice president. In the general election on November 8, 1960, Kennedy defeated the Republican Vice President Richard M. Nixon in a very close race. At the age of 43, Kennedy was the youngest man elected president and the first Catholic. Before his inauguration, his second child, John Jr., was born. His father liked to call him John-John. John F. Kennedy Becomes The 35th President of the United States John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th president on January 20, 1961. In his inaugural speech he spoke of the need for all Americans to be active citizens. "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," he said.

He also asked the nations of the world to join together to fight what he called the "common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself." President Kennedy, together with his wife and two children, brought a new, youthful spirit to the White House. The Kennedys believed that the White House should be a place to celebrate American history, culture, and achievement. They invited artists, writers, scientists, poets, musicians, actors, and athletes to visit them. Jacqueline Kennedy also shared her husband's interest in American history. Gathering some of the finest art and furniture the United States had produced, she restored all the rooms in the White House to make it a place that truly reflected America’s history and artistic creativity. Everyone was impressed and appreciated her hard work. The White House also seemed like a fun place because of the Kennedys’ two young children, Caroline and John-John. There was a pre-school, a swimming pool, and a tree-house outside on the White House lawn. President Kennedy was probably the busiest man in the country, but he still found time to laugh and play with his children. However, the president also had many worries.

One of the things he worried about most was the possibility of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. He knew that if there was a war, millions of people would die. Since World War II, there had been a lot of anger and suspicion between the two countries but never any shooting between Soviet and American troops. This 'Cold War', which was unlike any other war the world had seen, was really a struggle between the Soviet Union's communist system of government and the United States' democratic system. Because they distrusted each other, both countries spent enormous amounts of money building nuclear weapons. There were many times when the struggle between the Soviet Union and the United States could have ended in nuclear war, such as in Cuba during the 1962 missile crisis or over the divided city of Berlin. President Kennedy worked long hours, getting up at seven and not going to bed until eleven or twelve at night, or later. He read six newspapers while he ate breakfast, had meetings with important people throughout the day, and read reports from his advisers. He wanted to make sure that he made the best decisions for his country. "I am asking each of you to be new pioneers in that New Frontier," he said.

The New Frontier was not a place but a way of thinking and acting. President Kennedy wanted the United States to move forward into the future with new discoveries in science and improvements in education, employment and other fields. He wanted democracy and freedom for the whole world. One of the first things President Kennedy did was to create the Peace Corps. Through this program, which still exists today, Americans can volunteer to work anywhere in the world where assistance is needed. They can help in areas such as education, farming, health care, and construction. Many young men and women have served as Peace Corps volunteers and have won the respect of people throughout the world. President Kennedy was also eager for the United States to lead the way in exploring space. The Soviet Union was ahead of the United States in its space program and President Kennedy was determined to catch up. He said, "No nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space." Kennedy was the first president to ask Congress to approve more than 22 billion dollars for Project Apollo, which had the goal of landing an American man on the moon before the end of the decade. President Kennedy had to deal with many serious problems here in the United States.

The biggest problem of all was racial discrimination. The US Supreme Court had ruled in 1954 that segregation in public schools would no longer be permitted. Black and white children, the decision mandated, should go to school together. This was now the law of the land. However, there were many schools, especially in southern states, that did not obey this law. There was also racial segregation on buses, in restaurants, movie theaters, and other public places. Thousands of Americans joined together, people of all races and backgrounds, to protest peacefully this injustice. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the famous leaders of the movement for civil rights. Many civil rights leaders didn’t think President Kennedy was supportive enough of their efforts. The President believed that holding public protests would only anger many white people and make it even more difficult to convince the members of Congress who didn't agree with him to pass civil rights laws. By June 11, 1963, however, President Kennedy decided that the time had come to take stronger action to help the civil rights struggle. He proposed a new Civil Rights bill to the Congress, and he went on television asking Americans to end racism.

"One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free," he said. "This Nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds…[and] on the principle that all men are created equal." President Kennedy made it clear that all Americans, regardless of their skin color, should enjoy a good and happy life in the United States. The President is Shot On November 21, 1963, President Kennedy flew to Texas to give several political speeches. The next day, as his car drove slowly past cheering crowds in Dallas, shots rang out. Kennedy was seriously wounded and died a short time later. Within a few hours of the shooting, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald and charged him with the murder. On November 24, another man, Jack Ruby, shot and killed Oswald, thus silencing the only person who could have offered more information about this tragic event. The Warren Commission was organized to investigate the assassination and to clarify the many questions which remained. The Legacy of John F. Kennedy President Kennedy's death caused enormous sadness and grief among all Americans. Most people still remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news.

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington for the President's funeral, and millions throughout the world watched it on television. As the years have gone by and other presidents have written their chapters in history, John Kennedy's brief time in office stands out in people's memories for his leadership, personality, and accomplishments. Many respect his coolness when faced with difficult decisions--like what to do about Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962. Others admire his ability to inspire people with his eloquent speeches. Still others think his compassion and his willingness to fight for new government programs to help the poor, the elderly and the ill were most important. Like all leaders, John Kennedy made mistakes, but he was always optimistic about the future. He believed that people could solve their common problems if they put their country's interests first and worked together.

Question: Which state did John Kennedy represent as senator?
Answer: Massachusetts